Page 61 of Our Forever Starts Tonight

“I mean, last week notwithstanding, Lucky and I had been talking constantly. I imagine if he was dating someone who went tomynew school, he would have mentioned it. Especially someone like Hannah.” Then it hit me. “Yeah. He just confessed to me! I would certainly like to hope that he wouldn’t do that if he was seeing someone.”

Arden nodded. “Yeah, that’s true, but then I’m back to thinking he pulled all of this to come here and keep an eye on you. Either way, I’m quickly learning I donotlike that guy. He’s screwing with youandHannah.”

“You stay here,” I said.

“What?”

I stormed around the barn doors and threaded my way into the crowd. Hannah had stopped at one of the tables where I noticed some of the Pops were already standing, including Tristan. He looked unbelievable in a dark blue blazer with matching pants, pointed light gray shoes, and a matching undershirt. His hair was simply styled, and he had a silver watch on his wrist. He was smiling and laughing with his friends, but his eyes caught mine as I was passing. My stomach clenched and a swell of emotions burned up inside of me.

He gave me a gentle, warm smile, and so much passion poured from the look in his eyes that it almost froze me in place. He lifted his hand and waved, which I was surprised to see on its own because all of his friends could clearly see him do it. When they noticed it and followed his gaze over to me, he didn’t stop, keeping his hand up, and I didn’t know what to make of it.

Had something changed?

I broke his gaze and continued towards the dance floor. Lucky was standing near one of the food setups, and figuring out what was up with him was my goal for the time being. I couldn’t afford to be distracted by Tristan. Lucky’s presence there was problematic for more than one reason, and I had to get to the bottom of it.

When I finally reached him, I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, lighting up when he saw me. “Aria! I’ve been looking all over for you!”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I came with my friend Hannah,” Lucky said. “We lived in the same neighborhood growing up. We weren’t incredibly tight or anything, and we never went to the same school, but we reconnected a handful of months ago.”

“You mean around September when I started going here?” I asked.

Lucky’s eyes widened and then softened. “I… was worried about you.”

“Does she think you’re here because you like her?” I asked. “You confessed to me just two weeks ago. What if I had said yes?”

“Then I would have stopped talking to Hannah immediately,” Lucky said.

My jaw dropped. “Don’t you hear how fucked up that is? How can you say it so simply?” Then I recoiled. “Oh my god. It’s because she’s friends with Tristan. It was the same thing with her. You were just dealing with her so long as you could use her, just like me?”

“No!” Lucky yelped. “You mean way more than that to me.”

“I can’t believe it. How long have you been this horrible of a person?” I asked.

Lucky reached out. “Aria…”

I smacked his hand away. “Don’t. Don’t touch me. You need to tell Hannah what you’re up to and leave.”

“Why should I?” Lucky said. “I’ll stay here if I want to.” His demeanor shifted in an instant, and my heart broke.

What happened to my best friend?

“I feel like I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

All I could do was turn around and walk away from him. Emotions were welling up in my eyes, and I knew I needed to step outside and get some fresh air for a moment. It was upsetting to me that I’d been tricked into such an empty and meaningless friendship. This man that I thought actually cared about me was willing to go to such nasty lengths to stake some unearned claim on me like that.

There were still a lot of students arriving at the dance, so once I was out the front door, I cut to the left and walked over to one of the outdoor work pods and sat down. Was I justthatterrible at reading people? How many other people in my life was I completely misjudging?

“Aria?” I looked over and Tristan was standing there, watching me with concern. “Are you okay? You bolted out of there kind of fast.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “You can go.”

“Okay…” he said, turning to walk away, but then he stopped and turned back. “Actually, no. I’m sorry. Whatever your answer is after this, I’ll drop it, but I just have a few things I have to say.”

25

Tristan

---